The past is a foreign country

In an age of school buses and car-pooling parents, such stories, whether believable or not, conjure up visions of a world almost beyond the imaginations of today's children. I was reminded of that today by an email from my friend and Brandeis colleague Tom Pochapsky, who directed my attention to a fascinating article on the website of Beloit College (http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2014.php webcite). Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, which provides a look at the cultural background of the students entering college that fall. The creation of Beloit's Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it was originally created as a reminder to the Beloit faculty to be aware of dated references. As the website notes, 'it quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation.'So what's the worldview of the class of 2014? According to the latest list, here are a few of the things these 18-year-olds, born in 1992, have experienced - and not experienced:？ Few in the class know how to write in cursive.？ They find that email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail. They text. Oh, God, do they text.？ To them, Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive film director than as vigilante cop Dirty Harry.？ For them, Korean cars have always been a staple on American highways.？ They've never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day.？ In their world, Czechoslovakia has never existed. There was no Berlin Wall, the Iron Curtain is a meaningless phrase, and Russia has never had a Communist government.？ There has never been a world without AIDS.？ The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are classical music.？ Toothpaste tubes have always stood up on their caps.？ There have always been women priests in the Anglican Church.？ Having hundreds of cable channels but nothing good to watch has always been the norm.？ The US public has